The shooting occurred around 3 p.m. in Trenton, Fla., about 30 miles west of Gainesville. When additional deputies responded to the restaurant, Ace China, they found both the deputies dead inside it, and the suspect dead outside, according to the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office.

The office said that the suspect’s motive was unclear, and Sheriff Bobby Schultz declined at a Thursday night news conference to identify him or to confirm whether he had killed himself. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.

Sheriff Schultz identified the victims as Sgt. Noel Ramirez, 29, and Deputy Taylor Lindsey, 25. Sergeant Ramirez was married with children (the sheriff did not say how many), and Deputy Lindsey was unmarried but had a girlfriend.

“I made contact with the families, and as you’d expect, you can never be prepared for something like this,” Sheriff Schultz said. “But make no mistake, they’re proud of their families. They understood when their loved ones pinned on the badge and they strapped on the gun that this was a possibility.”

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Trenton, the seat of rural Gilchrist County, is a small town of around 2,000 residents, but the killing of the deputies drew the attention and condolences of national officials.